Research summary · Training and performance
When progressive loading changed the muscle-growth trajectory
Thirty-one untrained adults trained one leg with progressively adjusted knee-extension loads and the other with a fixed load for 12 weeks, twice weekly. Repeated measurements tracked muscle cross-sectional area across 24 sessions.
- Publication year
- 2026
- First published online
- Publication type
- Randomized within-participant trial
- Journal
- International Journal of Sports Medicine
- Population / context
- Resistance training · Untrained young adults
What the publication reports
Both legs gained muscle. Differences at individual assessment points were not statistically clear, but growth between sessions 18 and 24 was greater with progression by 1.22 square centimetres. Progressive loading maintained higher effort and accumulated greater training volume.
Limits and interpretation
This small single-exercise study cannot isolate load progression from accompanying differences in volume and effort. Findings in untrained adults should not be generalized directly to experienced athletes or whole-body programmes.
Read the source
Consult the original record for the full author list, methods, references, funding and competing-interest disclosures.
Time course of muscle hypertrophy with and without progressive overload
Original publication / indexed recordPMID: 42880344DOI: 10.1055/a-2980-6473Reader discussion
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